Rep. Parker Griffith works Republican crowd day after being target of GOP resolutions

Dave Dieter / The Huntsville TimesCongressman Parker Griffith (R-Huntsville) talks with Barbara Lucero of the Twickenham Republican Women clubHUNTSVILLE, AL -- It was hugs and smiles and picture-posing, all gentle and genteel at the Huntsville Twickenham Republican Women's Club late Tuesday morning. No angry questions, no outright disdain.

Oozing charm, U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith (D-, er-oops, R-Huntsville) worked the crowd.It was the day after a crowd worked him over.

On Monday night, the Madison County Republican Executive Committee debated an appeal that would have kept Griffith off June's primary ballot. It voted down the appeal, 41-9. Looks like Griffith covered the point spread.

"I was happy about that, because I think the Republican Party is projecting an image to welcome people into the party," Griffith said.

However, it tugged and tugged to yank the welcome mat out from under Griffith's feet.

The committee passed a resolution that urged Republicans not to support Griffith with either votes or money. Instead they were asked to back one of the other candidates, Mo Brooks and Les Phillip.

Griffith's Dec. 22 announcement that he was switching parties could have been measured by seismic waves on a Richter scale. He has vowed to return campaign contributions - at least those offered during a particular time-frame - and has spent much of the last three weeks trying to smooth ruffled feathers on both sides of the fence.

"Some people said I did this to get re-elected and others say now that I did this, I can't be re-elected," Griffith said before his two-minute speech to the group and a sprint to the airport to return to Washington.

For much of Griffith's tenure, Congress has been playing hacky-sack with health care reform. It's been an extraordinarily emotional issue that's been misinterpreted, mishandled and devisive. Griffith was quick to join the pack of Blue Dog Democrats who joined Republicans in opposing the original draft.

However, he brought things closer to home on Monday, with local economic concerns.

"I appreciate being a Republican," he told the group. "I hope the people understand that we cannot be in a party that does not believe in manned space flight, that has said publicly that manned space flight is too dangerous and too expensive for America to participate in. That our ground-base defense is not to be supported.

"Anything that attacks the Redstone Arsenal and the 5th Congressional District and manned space flight, we can't be a part of that," Griffith said.

Well-aware of the hard feelings on both sides, Griffith employed a deft bit of damage control in an interview before his speech. Having been one person belonging to two parties, he pitched a notion along the lines of "two parties, but one people.

"It's only polarizing in the sense that it's an adjustment to make," he said of his decision. "This is a very, very smart, well-read district. They're very independent in their thinking. They've ordinarily over the years . . . voted for the person and not the party, and so I represent the entire 650,000 people in the district. And I'll continue to represent them."

As Griffith chatted on the fringe of the crowd, a woman - "one of my Democrat friends," Griffith would say - walked up and greeted him.